The happy couple entered the park...

...dangerously close to one another.

MALBA is a must

Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) is on all the lists of places one must go when in Buenos Aires. So is tango. And we didn't do that. But I love art museums and this is modern art, a favorite.

Not speaking Spanish was a bit of a challenge, but not much. There were many interactive aspects and live performances, which made it fun. The best part was seeing the work of Argentinian artists in the various genres. I'm always glad when a museum is not too big because it's so much to take in!

And although the permanent collection was amazing, the top floor with contemporary work really begs questions. Why must modern artists focus nearly exclusively on misery and macabre?

For example, there was this wonderful exhibit of photographs displaying exaggerated acts of everyday aggression. Why not exaggerated acts of everyday hilarity? That would be AWESOME. But no.

And then there was this (real) man and attached to his clothes were strings to all sorts of macbre stuff placed around the room and everytime he moved they squeaked. Why the torture? Why not a camera attached to a computer and everytime someone looks at the camera and smiles something lights up around the room and a flower blooms. Okay, that does sound lame. But you get the idea, right?

Cementario de la Recoleta

I like cemeteries. They are usually quiet, frequently beautiful and full of creativity. Cementario de la Recoleta was over the top!

This is the cemetery where Eva "Evita" Peron is buried. It is where many luminaries take their final rest. But a surprising number of graves are not well tended or simply crumbling to pieces. The cobwebs everywhere were pretty intense.

The cemetery is a true jumble of monuments to the dead. Some are relatively humble, some very religious, but so many were SCREAMING for attention - angels bent over and weeping, sculptures looking up adoringly at the deceased, and more. Of course, this gave me wonderful opportunity to find layers of visual excitement in the reflections!

As it happens, this was a particularly popular style of door. So many glass windows providing a mirror into the cemetery. Rich gave up on me and we resorted to texting to keep track of each other.

There was so much egotism about that it seemed only natural for me to find a way to get myself into the picture.

We arrived at the cemetery early in the morning - around 10:30am(!) - and it was fun to watch the city waking up as we walked. Shopkeepers were hosing down the sidewalks, people were having their coffee, orange juice and croissant, and dogs were walking their owners. By the time we left around noon the city was awake! Restaurants were playing music and the adjacent park had market stalls mostly set-up. We couldn't resist browsing. Turns out it was almost all artesans. Our shopping for gifts is now completed!

Fun with Food

La Comida: Empanadas y Pizza y Carne Roja y Pollo

We have been having so much easy fun on this trip! Buenos Aires has been a big, leafy city with many colorful and flavorful barrios to explore.

Empanadas: It becomes immediately obvious that most popular food is empanadas and pizza. The empanadas are quite different from one place to the next. My favorite are from the confiterias, which are like bakeries but mostly sell pastries. I like the pastry dough filled with goodies like beef, chicken, ham or cheese.

Pizza is also very popular and we went to two pizza restaurants. The biggest difference from the U.S. is in the quality of the ingredients. The cheese is delicious and not oily at all. The crusts are amazing! All sorts of delicate flavors. And whatever you have on it, we tried ham and olives, again it is nothing but top quality.

Carne Roja: Immediately upon arrival Rich was examining the signs at the two carnicerias (beef butcher shops) in our neighborhood. The one carniceria will even have a queue form in the evening! Rich has purchased a number of different cuts with varying success. One cut was so inedible we made stew out of it.

But nothing has been spectacular...until he tracked down a real parilla - a restaurant that specializes in beef. We celebrated our anniversary over the best beef I have ever tasted! We arrived very early at 8pm and found a seat upstairs by the windows. By the time we left after 9pm the place was packed and roaring with conversation.

Pollo: The chicken is actually really good too. Of course you buy it from the butcher that sells only chicken! There is so much flavor to the meat. Which is a really good thing because there are no spices in the apartment and we haven't been daring enough to just grab a spice mix at the market.

Produce: There are plenty of fresh fruit and vegetable stores too. Much like we saw in Prague, the produce is beautifully displayed, spilling out onto the sidewalk. The tomatoes have been the tastiest I've had in a while and when cooked they are even better.

The best part? Everything I could want on short notice is available within a couple of blocks. When Rich is out wandering the city and I'm left in the apartment without food, I can just pop down to the confiteria next door and grab a couple of empanadas. Yum! And let's not forget the Asian-run market a few more feet away where I can even get a very decent bottle of wine.

The Many Faces of Colonia del Sacramento

We made a weekend getaway of Colonia del Sacramento in nearby Uruguay. Well, us and 300 or so of our closest friends were on the ferry. The ferry went quite fast and was so rocky everyone was glued to their seats. Now we know why there were so many couples. What a delightful and romantic old city awaited us!

The streets were cobblestoned and lined with birch trees that dappled the sunlight on the tiled sidewalks. With a little direction we found our way from the ferry to our bed and breakfast, Posada Plaza Mayor.

The hotel had a darling inner courtyard with a delicate blue-tiled fountain and bird bath. We had fun watching the birds splashing merrily away, puffing up their feathers. And it was so cool at night we didn't have to worry about whether to leave the windows open or not (because without question there are no screens in the windows).

We did a lot of walking but perhaps even more sitting around on park benches doing nothing. We spent the most time at one bench and had the pleasure of watching the street hawkers carefully (and masterfully) setting up their displays of handmade jewelry. We were there so long I'm not sure they even saw us. We saw tattoos, dreadlocks and even a pretty young woman with lovely black hair in a mohawk. The one vendor was very savvy and charming and he had first place on the wall. People (mostly women) were enticed by him and he made jewelry on the spot for them.

At the same time dogs ran wild, tails up in the air, wagging, as they chased each other around and barked at passing cars. Eventually we decided to have a beer (what else to do while waiting for restaurants to open?) and shared a litre bottle at a small table for two.

Me and My Crazy Monkey

I've been learning to speak Spanish with an app, Duolingo, on my phone. But so far the vocabularly hasn't been particularly applicable to my journey here in Buenos Aires. There just aren't that many bears, bulls, and mice to speak of. But then curiously there was this monkey. I knew that word!!

There are other curious things in this big city. My bruised left foot can tell you all about the sidewalks. So many tiles! Beautiful tiles, small tiles, broken tiles, missing tiles, and ordinary tiles. And there is cement sidewalk, sometimes, but always lumpy and bumpy. There are very old cobblestones and bricks - deeply pitted bricks. A fast walk? Good luck!

And then there is the harrowing traffic. It's a city so one might expect crazy jack-rabbit driving with horns honking and cars and buses within a half-inch of one another. Yet there are no stop signs. Traffic lights, yes. But smaller intersections leave pedestrians and cars to jockey for position to cross the street. I'll say no more except that it seems to work.

Los Huevos

Sometimes it's best to live as though you don't have any money. Money hides so many fantastic things. We took ourselves down to the port to buy tickets to take the ferry next weekend to Colonia del Sacremento in Uruguay. Sure, we could have bought them online, but that would cost us an extra US$50. So, being the frugal, experiential travelers we so want to be, we took the subway, wandered around trying to find the bus stop, asked a shopkeeper (in Spanish no less!) how to find it, and then found it.

As we exited the bus I couldn't help but notice the very large, colorful graffiti on a building across the street. So when the man at the ticket counter asked us to wait 15 minutes until the boarding for the current ferry was closed, I decided to wander over for some photographs.

I was so engrossed in the graffiti I was surprised when I passed by the man cooking his meal on the street. In the picture you can just recognize him at the end of that gremlin-like creature. As I walked on down the street I could see some yellow tents set up and realized that I was on the outside of a wall on the edge of a park.

I walked up to the tents and discovered a local, weekend market. Very local. I couldn't get over those eggs (los huevos)! There was also a stand with chicken, another selling beef, another selling beans and grains, another with fresh produce, and others. Neighbors were queued up to make purchases and most had their shopping carts in tow. Children and dogs ran around.

When I returned to Rich at the ticket office there were still some stragglers who were checking-in for the ferry and had to run to catch it! Even as we purchased our tickets a man arrived hoping to board the ferry, but he was turned away.

Our journey home was tiring. It was hot and we were thirsty. Wouldn't you think there would be at least one cafe? No. Two bars, the first we have sighted, but no cafe. We finally hopped on a bus to the old town, San Telmo. Thirst quenched we discovered tourist souvenir heaven on Calle Lavalle!

Then we were hot, tired and hungry. Hmmm. We found the subway and the temperature was an easy 90 degrees! I guess we could have taken a taxi. Instead, I think I'll take a nap now...

Garden for Two

The botanical gardens - and an amazing network of parks - are very close to our apartment in the Palermo Barrio. We are not so accustomed to the walking and this sculpture aptly illustrates how we felt at the end of our excursions on Saturday and Sunday!

Jardín Botánico was a lovers' paradise. Young couples sat smooching on park bench after park bench. I parked Rich next to a lovely young woman on a bench and went exploring. When I returned he was engaged in a lively conversation with the young woman. No kissing. She was eager to practice her English!

City dancing

It's all about tango here, but the graffiti may be my only souvenir. Yes, I could buy art sold on the street of tango dancers, but we haven't seen a single souvenir store or anything being sold with Buenos Aires written on it. And we went into San Telmo, the old town. It's a curious thing really.

I snapped my ballerina on the first day and took some liberties. I'm trying not to feel like I have to see-something-fantastic-every-single-day, but it was such a pleasant shocker to arrive in Buenos Aires after the Florida condo was flooded. We went from disaster to excitement!